With Donald Trump out of office and off of social media, CNN has become obsessed with popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
On Friday night’s CNN Tonight, host Don Lemon and senior political analyst Kirsten Powers melted down over Carlson arguing that Democrats desire to use mass immigration to gain votes. Lemon accused Carlson of “pushing a racist theory that's been a favorite of white supremacists” and Powers dragged the GOP into the discussion by claiming that Carlson’s rhetoric shows that Republicans have gone so far to the right that “they’ve just shifted right off the map.”
Lemon began the segment by touting “calls” for Carlson “to resign” and claiming that Carlson used “white supremacist” talking points:
Fox host Tucker Carlson under fire and facing calls to resign for pushing a racist theory that's been a favorite of white supremacists for years, the replacement theory, is one that imagines that white people are being intentionally replaced by third world immigrants to quote, “dilute American voters.” The theory is complete nonsense of course.
Lemon is lying about Carlson making his argument about race, as Carlson explicitly stated in the segment in question that his point about Democrats wanting mass immigration has nothing to do with race but that it is instead “a voting rights question.”
Lemon is also lying about Carlson’s argument being “complete nonsense” because Democrats have acknowledged that winning elections is part of why they support mass immigration. In a 2013 interview with CBS, former Obama cabinet member and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro predicted that Texas will turn blue due to “the population growth of folks from outside of Texas.”
Lemon continued to allege that Carlson’s “theory is racist” and asked Powers, “How damaging is this that he is spreading this to millions of people?”
Powers ridiculously asserted that Carlson’s argument is so “damaging” that it could cause “mass shootings:”
It's extremely damaging. It's very dehumanizing the way he's speaking about, you know, immigrants from the third world being obedient, you know, is a very degrading way to speak about people. I think the fact that he is talking about diluting, which is a very white supremacist type of word, right? It’s this idea of purity, that they are somehow diluting our pure country. It's an ideology that has fueled mass shootings, so it’s extraordinarily dangerous, extraordinarily irresponsible.
Powers also attacked Carlson for being “racist” and alleged that Fox News is “not even trying to pretend anymore” that it is using “white supremacist terminology”:
Because they think that they have made this turn where it feels like a lot of times in the past, they would take it up to the line and now it's just completely over the line. It's the, you know, what we talk about, saying the quiet parts out loud. It's just, it's not even trying to pretend anymore. And for him to sit there and act like oh, who, me? That they would suggest that I'm being racist when he's using white supremacist terminology and he knows that perfectly well.
Ironically, Powers was condemning a news host for using hateful rhetoric while speaking to Don Lemon, who has written a book where he accuses all white people of being racist and claimed on air that all Trump voters are in a coalition with the “Klan” and “Nazis.”
Lemon and Powers then decided to bring the GOP into the discussion, with Powers proclaiming that the GOP has become a far right party and that Carlson has “become the new Trump” (click "expand"):
LEMON: Well, listen, we know it's, you know, sort of this feedback loop, right, with the Republican Party, the Trumpsters, and Fox News. What does it say about the Republican Party -- conservatives in general that Carlson is pushing these fringe theories on a mainstream outlet? How far has the party shifted?
POWERS: Yeah, they've just shifted right off the map… I do think that there is, Tucker is, in a way, tried to kind of become the new Trump because Donald Trump doesn't have access on a regular basis to the public anymore because he can't be on social media and so, Tucker now is becoming that person. I mean, that’s just, you know, I can't prove that but that's what it looks like. It looks like he’s going to be the person who’s going to be saying these things and he is going to be the person that people can go to for that in the way that they used to get that from Donald Trump on a regular basis.
Lemon nastily chimed in to say that Trump supporters “need their fix” after Powers contended that they go to Carlson now for supposedly hateful rhetoric because Trump is now off of social media.
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Read the full April 9th transcript here:
CNN Tonight
4/9/21
10:40:46 PM
DON LEMON: Fox host Tucker Carlson under fire and facing calls to resign for pushing a racist theory that's been a favorite of white supremacists for years, the replacement theory, is one that imagines that white people are being intentionally replaced by third world immigrants to quote, “dilute American voters.” The theory -- the theory is complete nonsense of course, but in the interest of having an informed discussion on why his comments are so toxic and dangerous, here’s a clip.
(Cuts to video)
TUCKER CARLSON: I know that the left and all the little gatekeepers on Twitter become literally hysterical if you use the term replacement, if you suggest that the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the third world. If you change the population, you dilute the political power of the people who live there. So every time they import a new voter, I become disenfranchised as a current voter. So I don't understand why you don’t understand this. I mean, everyone wants to make it a racial issue out of it, oh, you know, the white replacement theory. No, no, no, this is a voting rights question.
(Cuts to live)
LEMON: Okay. Well let's discuss now, CNN senior political analyst Kirsten Powers is -- wow. Hi, Kirsten. So --
KIRSTEN POWERS (CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST): Hey.
LEMON: -- break this down for us. Look, this theory is racist, it's not factual, adding new citizens, it doesn't mean that anyone is being replaced. How damaging is this that he is spreading this to millions of people?
POWERS: It's extremely damaging. It's very dehumanizing the way he's speaking about, you know, immigrants from the third world being obedient, you know, is -- is a very degrading way to -- to speak about people. I think the fact that he is talking about diluting, which is a very white supremacist type of word, right? It -- it's this idea of purity, that they are somehow diluting our pure country. It's -- it's something -- it’s an -- it’s a -- he -- it’s -- it’s -- it’s an ideology that has fueled mass shootings, so it’s -- it's extraordinarily dangerous, extraordinarily irresponsible, and he knows exactly what he’s doing.
LEMON: So, Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League is calling on Fox CEO Suzanne Scott, to fire Carlson writing this: “This is not legitimate political discourse. It is dangerous race baiting, extreme rhetoric, and yet, unfortunately, it is a culmination of a pattern of increasingly divisive rhetoric used by Carlson over the past few years. Given his long record of race baiting, we believe it is time for Carlson to go.” You used to work at Fox and I'm guessing those chances are exactly zero to none.
POWERS: Yeah, so I would say there are zero. I -- I will say the, I mean, I left there four -- four years ago I think so it is -- it is a bit of a different place but it -- it's a different place in the sense that it's even more unlikely that anything would happen for saying these kinds of things and look, I don't think -- it’s -- it's a feature, it's not a bug, what he’s doing. This is part -- this is meant to -- to be said intentionally, it is meant to please his viewers, it is meant to make people angry, it's meant to upset liberals, it's meant to dehumanize immigrants. It's all of those things. And I don't think that Fox News would even think for one second of firing him. It -- it's just, it -- I don't think it would even cross their mind. I -- I don't even think it would cross their mind, frankly, to even censure it.
LEMON: Case in point, the network is not backing down what he said. They're even, they've been writing -- you know, they’ve even written it up, right? Look, it -- it's there on their web site -- on the Fox website. How can -- how can they be okay with this?
POWERS: Because they think that they have made this -- this turn where -- it -- it feels like a lot of times in the past, they would take it up to the line and now it's just completely over the line. It's the, you know, what we talk about, saying the quiet parts out loud. It's just, it's not even trying to pretend anymore. And for him to sit there and act like oh, who, me? That they would suggest that I'm being racist when he's using white supremacist terminology and he knows that perfectly well. And -- and even the idea that he is putting forth that it has something to do with voting rights? It is true that Republicans have this idea that Democrats only want to have immigrants come into this country because they'll vote Democratic, but it is such a lack of imagination that you can't even consider the possibility that people actually think that this is good for the country and that we are a country of -- of mostly immigrants, not everybody came here by their own accord, but a lot of people did, and they came as immigrants and that has been the history of our country and it -- he can't even imagine that there are people who just think that we should have immigrants. There has to be some other nefarious reason.
LEMON: Well, listen, we know it's, you know, sort of this feedback loop, right, with the Republican Party, the Trumpsters, and Fox News. What does it say about the Republican Party -- conservatives in general that Carlson is pushing these fringe theories on a mainstream outlet? How far has the party shifted?
POWERS: Yeah, it’s -- they've -- it's -- they've just shifted -- they’ve -- right off the map. Look, I saw J.D. Vance, who used to be considered a sort of sane Republican, defending Tucker Carlson on Twitter, claiming that people are just going after him because he's the only one that speaks the truth. So, it is -- I do think that there is, Tucker is, in a way, tried to kind of become the new Trump because Donald Trump doesn't have access on a regular basis to the public anymore because he can't be on social media and so, Tucker now is becoming that person. I mean, that -- that's just, you know, I can't prove that but that's what it looks like. It looks like he’s going to be the person who’s going to be saying these things and he is going to be the person that people can go to for that in the way that they used to get that from Donald Trump on a regular basis.
LEMON: They need their fix.
POWERS: Yeah.
